1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automatic power conservation method for an optical media device, and more particularly, to an automatic power conservation method for an optical media device that is capable of turning off more circuit components while operating in a sleep-mode.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Energy conservation is a common issue that is being discussed in this era which energy is consumed rapidly. Energy conservation is also an important task while designing an optical media such as CD-ROM, CD-R/RW, DVD-ROM, DVD-R, and DVD-Dual, etc. It is most desirable if the unneeded circuit components of an optical media can all be turned off while it enters the sleep-mode, which it is the main object of the present invention.
Typically, an optical media will enter the sleep-mode after idling for a period of time. The motor inside the optical media will be stopped to reduce the noise and the heat, and a portion of the circuit components on the circuit board will be turned off as well. However, when entering the sleep-mode, some of the components on the circuit board are still functioning, which include the host inference (HI) of the integrated circuit (IC), Random Access Memory Arbiter (RAM Arbiter), Micro-Computing Unit (MCU), and Dynamic RAM (DRAM).
Please refer to FIG. 1, which is a block diagram of the circuitry between the PC and the IC of a conventional optical media device. As the optical media device enters the sleep-mode, the PC, or the Host 150 will send some signals to the HI 120 of the IC 100 in the optical media. Based on the signal received by the HI 120 from the Host 150, the MCU 110 of the IC 100 will send the information of the current operating mode of the optical media device to the Host 150 through the HI 120 in response.
The optical media device can leave the sleep-mode by a request from the user through the Host 150, or through the panel of the optical media (which is not shown in the figure). However, the user wakes the optical media device up from the sleep-mode either through the Host 150 or the panel, the control signal needs to be sent from the HI 120 to the MCU 110 so that the MCU 110 can ask the optical media device to leave the sleep-mode. Moreover, while processing these signals, the MCU 110 needs to access the DRAM 140 outside the IC 100 through the RAM Arbiter 130.
Therefore, while the foregoing conventional mechanism for optical media device is in the sleep-mode, the HI 120, the MCU 110, the RAM Arbiter 130, and the DRAM 140 of the optical media device are, instead of in the sleep-mode, still processing. If these circuit components can as well enter the sleep-mode as the optical media entering the same, the power can be conserved.
In view of this, the present invention provides an automatic power conservation method for optical media device to conserve more power by turning off more circuit components when the optical media device enters the sleep-mode.